


Lettered

by yeolinski



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Childhood Memories, Love Letters, M/M, Swimming, They're both jerks, literary genius ong seongwoo, swimming team captain kang daniel, teenagers being horrible at feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 09:39:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16658741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeolinski/pseuds/yeolinski
Summary: Ong Seongwoo may have, accidentally, summoned the apocalypse to his school.Not the kind of apocalypse that would would be caused by natural catastrophes, zombies, or aliens - oh, no, all yours truly did was… write a letter.





	Lettered

**Author's Note:**

> Written for prompt number #14
> 
> *rated for bad language and adult themes.   
> *as mentioned, they're both a bit of immature jerks, so bear with 'em.

Ong Seongwoo may have, accidentally, summoned the apocalypse to his school.

Not the kind of apocalypse that would would be caused by natural catastrophes, zombies or aliens - oh, no, all yours truly did was… write a letter.

You see, Seongwoo was never awfully good at sports. Academics weren’t exactly his thing, either. Although blessed with height and good looks, he wasn’t exactly a hit among the ladies, either. Whatever. It's not his fault he had zits during his freshmen year. 

What Seongwoo was exceptionally good in was… well… _bullshiting_.

But thankfully, that skill could be applied to many places; such as weaseling out of bad situations by talking, lying to his mom about where he was and what he was doing, telling the teacher all sort of interesting things to get away with punishment and, last but not least, writing.

Back in the day - when he was younger and perhaps stupider, he’d write a lot; short stories, and drabbles. He’d even enter competitions for young writers. His mom even signed him up for some fundraising, where he got to help some sick kids by writing them in as superheroes. But as adolescence progressed that part of his life went down on his priority list.

In highschool, people looked at this sort of thing in disdain. You read books instead of gaming? _Lame_. You're good at literature? _So what_. Writing wasn’t cool anymore. Hanging out after school in arcades was.

So one day, there he was with his classmates, messing around after school. High school is terrible enough to survive as it is, and Minhyun and Jaehwan were including him less in outings because they were dating so Seongwoo did what he could to fit in. 

One of them suggested they should write a love letter to the most popular girl at school. As a prank. So they did. Well, Seongwoo _did_ , the rest of them were just wailing about how nice her hair smells and suggesting really corny shit to write. It wasn’t even something serious. None of them would’ve sent it. Seongwoo was writing it in a half sarcastic tone, and all. Except one of his buddies, (Seongwoo still haven’t figured out who, treacherous snakes, all of them), decided to slip it into her locker.

Next morning, a letter fluttered to her feet, right in front of a crowded hallway. Everybody were talking about it by lunch. It was huge deal. Everybody were comparing notes about handwriting and gossiping about her hypothetical secret admirer.  

Wrongly assuming the identity of the sender, the girl went on to write her own letter, confessing her undying love (and signing off with her phone number), and leaves it in _her crush’s,_  aka the most popular guy in school, locker. And then, like all things popular kids in highschool do, it becomes a _trend_.

And by trend, he means a smaller version of the apocalypse.

Tables turn over night, power struggles enuse, and governments fall. It’s all everybody talk about; whose getting letters, and who _isn’t_. The campus store starts selling expensive colorful parchments and a wide variety of envelopes, teachers talk about how they should focus on their studies and keep the letter business confined to recess hours, boys would send ‘prank letters’ with goofy content, and girls would send letter to themselves to seem more popular. Seongwoo saw, with his own two eyes, actual cat-fights over letters. He’d run to buy popcorn, if he knew he wouldn’t miss the entire thing while he’s away.

After hearing about that funny story during recess, Jaehwan came up with an amazing business startup. Who would Seongwoo be, if he weren’t to monetize on this whole situation, right? 

So Seongwoo and Jaehwan (and Minhyun who just set there and told them how stupid this entire thing is) spent one afternoon in the library and made an ad, which they then copied, and plastered around school.

“ **Looking to write a letter to your crush, but bad at writing?** ” it said; “ **Have no fear, because** **_The Letterer_ ** **is here!** "

It was an instant success. Even after they removed the posters, he was able to get customers in the word-of-the-mouth marketing and Jaehwan pushing it into every conversation. Even if his letter didn't succeed to get people together, they always left a good impression and left people in awe. He was just that good.

Kang Daniel wasn’t supposed to be any different.

 

...

 

The whole process is pretty simple.

Jaehwan would exchange a few emails with the sender; first to find out about the recipient, see what they want, choose the parchment and envelope type, then to get the correct sum of money accordingly.

Once it’s fully paid for, Seongwoo goes ‘bird-watching’. He checks out that person, notes down all the nice things about them, writes them a letter. All he knows about the sender is a phone number. This was it's much more discrete. Jaehwan came up with that. He and Jaehwan split 50-50, even though they both know Seongwoo does most of the work, but he’s shit at handling money and he probably would’ve never done this, without the dweeb.

Overall, the task is pretty easy.

Seongwoo always finds something to write about.

Kang Daniel is the Captain of the swimming team, so it’s easy to locate him after school.

He’s at the pool, training. What a surprise. 

And wow - he’s good. He does a few lapses, talks to his tropes and seems pretty easy-going and friendly with his team. People like him. Something about his smile just feels familiar.

Then he gets out of the water.

Seongwoo swallows.

Okay, yeah. There’s a lot to work with.

A lot of muscles are going on. Greek-god build, tall with broad shoulders.

Seongwoo takes out his little notepad, to write down notes, the way he usually does, but he never reaches out for the pen. Only when he’s back at home that evening, and finishes writing all the other letters, he realizes he didn’t write anything about Daniel.

He nibbles at his lip, clicking his pen a few times, trying to remember the details about him, his eyes, or any good traits, but all he sees before him is that glistering six pack and huge biceps.  
Next day, he decides. He won't get distracted. 

The way Daniel swims is art. He's so good at it. His arms are sculpted for it. There's something powerful in the way his shoulder blades move as he goes. Seongwoo can only imagine how it'd feel like under his hands. He's fast too. The other kids have nothing on him. No wonder he's the captain. So much for the not being distracted; he only leaves right as the guys are heading out of the water. Daniel takes off his purple-and-yellow cap, laughing at something somebody said, and his hair’s much lighter than what Seongwoo would’ve expected. He also has a scar on his chest.

And an earring.

Isn’t this against school regulations?

Is he really a year younger?

Looks like a delinquent.

It's not until the third day that Seongwoo spends in the pool house, that Jaehwan casually mentions the letter; "There's also that Kang Daniel one. I think you forgot that one."

"Oh, yeah. That." Seongwoo laughs nervously.

"Yeah." Jaehwan furrows his eyebrows. "That. What's up with that?"

"I, ugh, you'll have it tomorrow. I promise."

He leaves it at that, and Seongwoo's mostly relieved, until he's back home right in front of the paper, and he's clicking his pen. This is rough.

Why can't he write a bunch of compliments?

The dude got a nice body. He should start with that.

 _Dear Daniel_ , he starts, then erases it. No 'dear', that's corny. Daniel wouldn't like corny, he can tell. 

 _Daniel_ , okay that's better, _thank you for gracing us with the nice view of your body._

He tries a less sarcastic version of that particular phrase, but it just sounds like a joke no matter how you turn it around. He feels like Daniel might appreciate the joke. He seems like the kind that would but he's sure that's not where the sender wanted to take it. Maybe he should start slow.

_I've seen you practice, and damn son, you're a magical water nymph. I hope that bulge is just as magical as your well sculpted, greek god body. Hope you have a rotten personality, because divine balance. Also call me at 010-..._

Seongwoo slams his forehead on the desk.

 

...

  
"What do you mean you can't...? Isn't he like... one of the most popular dudes in our school that isn't Minhyun?"

"I am not that popular." Comes Minhyun's reply from the bed. He's reading a book and eating chips and couldn't be bothered by the letter thing. He’s not in on it, but for some reason, he’s always there while they’re discussing it.

"Oh please, you get so many letters you can start wiping your ass with them." Jaehwan shushes him, before turning back to Seongwoo; "Now, what do you mean, you can't? Just say a bunch of basic stuff about his gleaming eyes - and the softness of his hands, and maybe mention his good body. Even I noticed he has a good build."

"Of course, you did." Minhyun comments.

"You get to receive 12 letter per day, I get to look at other people's bodies, it all balances out."

"Right. Very balanced."

"Can you guys, just... focus?"

"We are! We're totally focused!" Jaehwan straightens. "Hold on. Let's call Jisung-hyung."

"Why Jisung-hyung?"

"He's like Daniel's best friend or something."

"Why is he best friends with a university student? That's weird. Ask somebody from his swimming team or something."

But Jaehwan is already calling. Jisung picks up after two rings. He used to be their senior at school, but as of a few months ago, he started university. He was easy to talk to and always had good advice, so pretty much everybody liked him. Seongwoo included. You just couldn't hate him. Seongwoo does remember him mentioning a Daniel a few times, but fleetingly.

"Hyung! We need information!"

He laughs as a reply. "What sort of information?"

"About Kang Daniel. You're good friends with him... right?"

There's some silent and muted shuffles. "Ugh, yeah - yeah. I am. Hold on for a moment," more muted shuffles. "What is this for? Your letter business?"

"Yeah." Jaehwan raises his eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"Call it a hunch - Ouch, what did you do that for?" There's some muffled noises, again, before he finally returns back on the line. "Sorry, my friend is acting like a dick."

Seongwoo furrows his eyebrows.

"Who's that with you?"

"Just a friend from university. Anyway, what do you need?"

"What are some good traits about him other than... you know. All of him." Seongwoo says, then immediately regrets it. That came out wrong. Even Minhyun looks up from the book.

"Hi, to you too, Seongwoo." He snorts on the line; "Okay, um... he's really generous and nice."

"Yeah, but that's just... really basic stuff." Seongwoo scratches his eyebrow; "What about, um... like things normal people don't notice? I mean, he's got a nice body. Everybody think he's the new jesus christ. I get it. What else? Like what are some... other stuff. That a person who actually likes him would notice."

Jisung seems to really think about that one. "Well... Daniel used to be very sick, back during junior high. Was in and out of the hospital and -- Ow! Hold on." There's some muted shuffles and voices, and Seongwoo and Jaehwan bend their heads over the phone just to listen to it.

Sounds like a heated conversation muffled by Jisung's hand, and nothing more.

"Okay, so," He returns back to the phone, again. "Sorry, about that, as I was saying... it'd be nice if somebody noticed that. The change he made. From being sickly, to being really healthy athlete."

"Yeah, no, I don't really give a shit about that. Back in junior high I had zits, and somehow now that I'm 18, I'm all cured and I don't want anybody to notice my dark past, do I? What else?"

Jisung is silent for a moment, then sighs. "How about talking about how smart he is? He reads a lot of books... and stories. People always seem to think he's a dumb jock."

"That's perfect!" Jaehwan exclaims. "See, Seongwoo, you can play on that?"

"That's hardly much to go on!" Seongwoo pulls in closer to phone. "What else?"

"Why - why don't you just talk to him, yourself?" There's another shuffle, but Jisung seems to ignore it, whatever it is. "I'm sure once you'll get to know him, it'll flow out."

Seongwoo sighs, and drops down on his back, dramatically.

"Well, err... thank you, Jisung." Jaehwan gives him a long weird glare. "We'll err... get back to you."

"Sure. Bye, guys!"

"Bye! Stay safe hyung! Don't let those university bullies get to you."

"I'll try. So far the only bullies here are high-schoolers." He chuckles before hanging up.

"What is wrong with you, today?" Jaehwan accuses. "Just write something about his nice body, and how he's all sophisticated because he writes books, and call it a day. Why do you have to dig in deeper, all of the sudden? You never had any problem before? Why now and with probably the easier dude ever to come up with something for?"

"Daniel is pretty easy to talk to." Minhyun says, all of the sudden. "And really easy to get along with. He gets letters daily, so I don't think he'd notice this one letter, anyway. Just write all the basic stuff, and get it done with. You don't have to... overdo it. I'm sure he'll still call the girl to apologize. He's nice like that."

"Yeah," Jaehwan agrees, then does a double take; "How do you know Daniel?"

"I have chemistry with him - I told you, I'm doing the year end assignment with him."

"Why didn't you say you’re friends with him?" Jaehwan pushes him.

"I wouldn't say friends. Acquaintances. Also, you didn't ask...?"

 

 

...

  


The next day Seongwoo’s back in the pool house, with his notepad, determined to find at least one noteworthy thing to say that doesn't sound cheesy, but he climbs down the seating space empty handed yet again.

It's just nothing he could really pinpoint. 

Minhyun and Jaehwan are right, like always. He should just write about basic things.

It’s just a letter.

It’s not even a letter from _him_. It’s probably from some girl. Seongwoo just writes it. 

It’s not until he’s all the way down the stairs, that somebody stands in his way, blocking the exit.

He’s a part of the swimming team, too.

Park Jihoon. Seongwoo remembers writing him 4 letters the past few months. He’s known to throw them into the trash in front of everybody’s faces, so he didn’t bothered much with them, too.

He crosses his hands on his chest, and when Seongwoo tries steering left to avoid him, he blocks his way again.

“You want something?” Seongwoo urges.

“Yeah, I want something.” He raises his chin. “Stop coming here. The regionals are two weeks away and you loitering here and staring at Daniel distracts not only him, but the entire team.”

Seongwoo's mouth drops into a gape.

If somebody did notice him dawdling on the seats like the world’s biggest asshole, they hadn’t exactly been vocal about it, nor did Seongwoo noticed them looking his way or snickering. Then again, he was very focused on Daniel, most of the time.

“I’m sorry…? I was just -”

“Yeah, well, I don’t care. If you actually care about him, think about how much the regionals are important to him — and us, his swimming team. We need to win this. So if you could just stalk him… like… maybe afterwards, that’d be super.”

“I’m not -” Seongwoo lowers his voice; “Stalking him. I just came here because it’s warm and nice and - I needed a quiet place to study, err…”

“Where’s your books, then?”

Seongwoo raises his notepad.

“What subject is that? Let me see.” He reaches out for it, but Seongwoo holds it high above his head.

“None of your business. And stop talking to me so informly, I’m your senior.”

"What's going on?" Seongwoo freezes in his place, and doesn't dare to move.

He heard his voice only from afar, but there's no doubt about it, Kang Daniel is right behind him. Shit.

"Jihoon." Daniel urges.

"Nothing. Your fanboy was just shamefully leaving, never to return again." Jihoon says smugly, and moves out of his way.

Seongwoo makes a face. He walks past him, and Seongwoo turns around.

"It's not forbidden to be in the pool house. You can... err... return if you want."

Daniel looks troubled, mostly. He rubs his wet hair.

Jihoon rolls his eyes; "Right, because it feeds your gigantic ego that even some dude comes to watch you waddling in the water? God." He clicks his tongue.

"Don't be cruel." Daniel tells him. "Just because he's a dude, he shouldn't be treated any different than a girl."

What the fuck?

"Then why are you so bothered with him being around? Ever since he started coming here, your performance score went down and you're losing your--"

"What makes you think I come here to watch... Daniel?" He gestures emptily.

They both turn to look at him. "You mean, besides the fact you just sit there, drooling over Daniel?" Jihoon sneers.

Daniel snorts. "Stop," he says, half-halfheartedly. "Go back to the team and stop terrorizing people." He pushes him toward the pool.

That makes Seongwoo even more outraged. He squints at him, when he finally turns back to him, and Daniel stands straighter, seemingly tensed up under his gaze. "So, you too, think I come here because I actually like you...?"

"You don't?"

"Yeah, I don't." Seongwoo explains. He comes here to get money off of him. Not because he likes him. What a joke.

"Well, if you don't, why are you here?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but the heating in my house is broken, and it's warm and humid here, and I happen to like that way. Helps my brain function better, and all."

"So does my friend's pet iguana, but you don't see her sitting there and watching me the entire time."

"Let me be very straight,"

Daniel snorts again; "I think that's already lost on you."

Seongwoo feels his cheeks burn out of embarrassment, but he takes a step closer and pokes his chest. It's hard - like touching a brick. "This might be hard to get through your thick head, so I'll talk slowly; I do not like you, because you're the average megalomaniac schmuck. But you can assume whatever little fantasy you cooked up in your tiny disproportionate-to-your-body head, it's not like you'll ever like anything better other than your own reflection, anyway. Hope you and your mirror have a great life together."

Seongwoo turns on his heel and leaves.

"Narcissists kiss their mirrors, not megalomaniacs!" Daniel calls after him, which makes Seongwoo halt for a moment at the door before continuing to walk away.

It's best not to engage, he tells himself all the way home, where he lands face first into his pillow, and screams into it.

Fucking asshole.

He picks up his phone, just to see Jaehwan texting him like 3 times about the Daniel letter, so he gets up in a rush and sits down at his desk.

 _Dear Daniel_ , his letter starts, now that he doesn’t give a crap what the letter is going to say.

_Thank you for gracing us all with the view of your purple skimpy speedos. It always makes a shiver run down my spine. Just like your magnificent abs or your ridiculously round butt. That must be why I like you, because let’s face it, you’re slightly lacking in the department of personality. I also heard you like books. Congratulations on knowing how to read! That makes the both of us and pretty much most of the population of Korea! But don’t worry, we’re a match made in heaven - I just know it. You must ask yourself why. Well, it’s simple - we’re both equally shallow. Me, because I like and you because you’re a schmuck. Also I’ve watched enough romcoms to know how your kind eventually warms up to your love interest. Call me to discuss this further at 010-9…_

That would probably get his attention. Seongwoo licks the envelope and seals it and delivers it himself, first thing in the morning, after finding out from Jaehwan the locker number.

He starts feeling pretty bad for the girl who made the request. He’ll probably text her just to curse at her, which isn’t exactly fair.

Only at the end of recess, does he finally says; “Could err… return the money to the girl that wanted to send the letter?”

“What? Why? You said you sent it?” Jaehwan is checking through his emails, giving him new names to scout for.

“Yeah, I might’ve… errr… wrote a bunch of crap in that letter. I feel bad.”

“It’s fine. How bad can it be?”

Yeah, worst case scenario, she’ll demand her money back.

Daniel might be an asshole, but he won’t be showing the letter around and making fun of her, would he?

Speaking of the devil, he sees Daniel strolling down the hallway. He asks one of Seongwoo’s classmates something, and he points inside.

At Seongwoo.

Daniel follows his hand gesture, and smirks.

“Oh, fuck.” He tells Jaehwan, and turns away from him. “Jaehwan, do something.” He begs, but Jaehwan only looks up and is able to say; “Do what—”

When Daniel cuts him off by slamming the letter on Seongwoo’s desk.

“Your phone-number didn’t work, so I came to see you personally, just to tell you I accept your feelings.” He speaks so loudly, even the people going down the hall stop to stare.

“W-what do you mean? This isn’t mine.” He feigns innocence and prays to whatever god there is out there to strike him with lightning at that very moment. His entire face like it’s on fire.

There’s literally no sound around him, it’s like everybody just froze in place.

“Yeah… this was sent by… Euigeon from B-3.” Jaehwan comes for his defense, except Seongwoo is awfully familiar with that name and he turns to look at Jaehwan. He usually doesn’t meddle with whose the sender. Jaehwan does. He clears his throat; “I can tell by the handwriting.”

“I’m from B-3 and there’s no Euigeon in our class.” Somebody peeps from the hallway.

“It wouldn’t matter if there were. You wrote this.” Daniel insists, and when Seongwoo looks up and almost jolts from how intensely he’s looking at him. He raises the letter back to read from it. “I don’t know any other 18 year old whose actively using the word schmuck — not to mention had the gall to use it twice on the same person in a 24 hour period. You’re lucky I know how to read between the lines too.”

“It’s true, Seongwoo’s good at literature.” A helpful classmates says, and Seongwoo hopes she chokes on a cockroach in her sleep.

Oh, _god_.

“Well, now that we cleared that out, I’ll text you the location of our date, so keep your schedule free.”

“Did I not make myself clear enough? I don’t like you and I don’t want to _date_ you.”

“No? Not even if I’ll promise to wear my —” He clears his throat; “Skimpy purple speedos that run a shiver down your spine?”

Seongwoo is about to combust; “Stop reading from it,” He shoves in down, so he'll stop. “I didn’t write it.”

“You did. Why are you so red, if you didn’t?”

Seongwoo looks at Jaehwan, who sits there like a deer caught in the headlights. “H-he’s already secretly dating somebody!” Jaehwan says, making literally the entire class gasp. “So he can’t date you!”

Seongwoo feels like slapping his forehead.

“Who?” Daniel crosses his hands on his chest. “Does that person knows that Seongwoo been sending me cute little love letters?”

“It’s like one letter, stop exaggerating!” Seongwoo returns.

“Oh, so you did send it —”

“I was just...” Seongwoo grunts, rubbing his face, before springing up and dragging Daniel out of the classroom.

Everybody are catcalling and ‘oooh’ at them on the way out, but this already became a show so might as well end it with a bang.

Once they’re outside, he rubs his face again. “ —the fuck?” He questions the minute they’re out of range of sight, down the hallway, behind the vending machines.

Daniel looks exceptionally pleased with himself. “We’ll get to that part later.”

“No we won’t. Because we are not dating.”

“And here I thought we’re twin souls. Because we’re both—” He raises the letter again to read from it; “Shallow and we both know how to read. Look how many interests we have in common.”

“I didn’t send you the letter. I wrote it, but it’s ugh… from somebody else. Who actually likes you. For whatever reason they have. I just… look, you don’t have many redeeming traits, okay? No offence, but you’re a dick. I got pissed off so I wrote the first thing that came to mind.”

“Right - no redeeming qualities beside my—” He raises the letter again; “ _Ridiculously round butt_. And my abs. You can just focus on those when we go on the date.”  

Seongwoo feels his blush extending to his neck, at this point. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? I’m not the droid you’re looking for—” Seongwoo uses a gesture with his hand like Obi Wan, which seems to amuse Daniel even more. “So run along… and find somebody else to have a public embarrassing confession with.”

“Huh? But it seems so personal… I feel like you’ve really poured your soul into it. And since you’ve…” He reads out loud again; “Watched enough romcoms, you’d be able to tell the signs of me warming up to you.” Seongwoo grabs the letter out of his hand.

“Stop reading it to me. I get it! It’s not the peak of human literature! Is this some type of bullying? What do you _really_ want?”

“I _really_ want a date.”

Seongwoo eyebrows do something odd where they move about on his forehead a few times, before he finally asks; “So you could… _beat_ me up?”

“No. So I could date you. Tomorrow, since it’s friday. I’ll text you the location. If you’re not there on time, I’ll make an even more public, and way more embarrassing show on Monday. Capisce?”

“Not capisce. I’m not going to come.”

“You will, if you don’t want the entire student body to know that you’ve been sending heartfelt letters on the behalf of their secret admirers.” He raises his eyebrows at him, then strutts away, hands in the pockets of his uniform.

How the heck did he know? Seongwoo fumes, glaring at his back. If only looks could kill. He must think he’s some hot shot.

Except Daniel turns around abruptly and walks up to him in a brisk move, and tugs the now mostly crinkled paper out of Seongwoo’s hand. “Sorry, I’m going to need that back.” He says, straightening the paper.

“What the hell for? Just throw it away and—”

“It’s your first love letter for me. If we’re dating, stuff like that should be important.” He nods, and he seems serious about it - so serious that Seongwoo actually feels bad.

Maybe he actually likes him or something?

He’s probably just messing with his head. Seongwoo stomps his foot.

He enters into his class along with the teacher to avoid being asked any questions.

 

...

 

The next day, Kang Daniel’s confession is all people talk about.

Jaehwan informs him of his favourite ones. That Daniel forced him into dating by pinning him to the wall and passionately kissing him until Seongwoo screamed ‘yes!’. Another one, that this was some elaborate ploy to raise Seongwoo’s reputation at school, that Seongwoo paid him for. And last but not least, Seongwoo was dating a teacher who he sent a letter too, that’s why he refused Daniel’s advances.

Frankly, Seongwoo believes Jaehwan started at least two of these rumours himself, because it kept the letter hype running, and Jaehwan has his head in business.

Different girls from different classes all come to ask him if they’re dating, to all of which Seongwoo answers a blatant ‘No.’

Because they’re not.

Seongwoo is going to humor him this evening, then  give him a polite, serious refusal.

Daniel’s trouble, as far as he’s concerned, and Seongwoo did good for himself until now by blending in.

Minhyun walks with him home and keeps looking back at the curious crowd that follows the both of them home, to make sure Daniel isn’t walking him or dating him, or whatever they hell they conjured to themselves.

They enter into their representative houses, but Minhyun walks out of the back door into the yard they share and to Seongwoo’s house. Perks of being neighbors.

Seongwoo is face first in his pillow trying to suffocate himself, when he enters.

“You’re feeling sorry for yourself because the most popular dude at school wants to date you?”

“I don’t think he wants to date me. I think he’s… messing around or something? I don’t know, maybe this is his idea of fun. What do reptilians like you and Daniel like to do for fun?”

“Well, we don’t sit around with a pity-dick in our mouth because somebody likes us.” Minhyun rolls his eyes and sits down on the floor in the room, slinging off his backpack. “He was a hyperactive spazzball at chemistry. Failed all our assignments, and still sat there with a goofy smile. I think he was really excited.”

Seongwoo looks up from his pillow, just to see what expression he’s making, but Minhyun yanks the pillow away. “Seongwoo, stop acting like the average hormonal teenager for a moment, here. I know you _kind of_ like him back - you never invested in any letter that much. You stretched it for almost a week.”

“I was — he has no redeeming traits!”

“Oh my god, so this is where he heard it. Daniel said he has no redeeming traits like 3 times during class, too.”

“It’s true! What was I supposed to write about? How nice he is when he isn’t nice at all?”

“He _is_ actually nice! To pretty much everybody else! Except you, for some reason. And it’s not that he’s not nice… he’s just… really aggressive when he’s coming onto you, because you keep reacting excessively. Why is that, by the way? One might think you’re overdoing it.”

Seongwoo yanks the pillow back to himself. “This is why I don’t like talking to you. I only like talking to Jaehwan.”

“Aw, because he allows you to stay with a pity-dick in your mouth?”

“Yes.”

“At least Jaehwan is getting an actual dick in his mouth, what’s your excuse?”

Seongwoo groans. “Thank you for that information. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear right now.” 

  


...

 

It’s already late twilight by the time they meet, and Daniel looks like he replaced the fucking sun, now that it’s off duty.

He’s glowing so much, girls come up to him to ask for his number, just off the street like that.

Fucking asshole.

He ditches them when he notices him.

“You came early.” He starts.

“You came _earlier_.” Seongwoo comments.

“What do you want to do? We could go watch a movie.” He looks around to locate the movie theater near the mall.

Seongwoo wants to say he wants to go home, but it’s kind of impossible — he looks really excited to hang out with him.

“We’re watching Venom, though.” Seongwoo decides. “It’s not up for discussion.”

“What, no romantic comedy? But you like those.” He smirks.

“If you quote from the letter one more time, I’m going home.” Seongwoo starts walking and he catches up to him in a light jog.

“No letter quoting. Scouts honor.” He holds up his fingers.

When it’s time to pay, Seongwoo’s already taking out his wallet when he stops it.

For a moment he thinks, oh god, he’s going to ask to pay and they’ll have this embarrassing debate right at the box office, but Daniel says; “You should pay for the entire thing, because you’re the hyung.”

Seongwoo snorts, and pays; also for the popcorn and drinks.

Only when they’re sitting at a jokbal place, he mentions splitting checks, but fleetingly, because they’re both sitting there talking excitedly about the movie, the way all marvel fanboys do, after they leave the cinema. It’s kind of laughable, actually, when Seongwoo thinks about it.

“There’s definitely going to be a sequel, and I’m already excited.”

“The credits scene kinda called for it.”

“They always spoiler the next movie with the credit scene.”

“I was sure they’ll connect it to spiderman somehow, so it surprised me when they didn’t.” Seongwoo admits, chewing.

“It would’ve been awesome if they did, right? They might still do it in the sequel.”

“Maybe it’s better if they don’t — I kinda like how it’s stand alone-ish? It was fun and had a lot of area to expand on. I also kinda hope to see more of Tom Holland’s spider man. I think he did the best job so far.”

“Tobey MaGuire is the best spiderman!” Daniel says; “He was awkward and weird, _unironically_ so. Constantly out of place, and too smart for his own good — he was just too old for the role, that’s all.”

“Oh my god, you disgust me. Spiderman is the best superhero and you’ve soiled the sanctity of his name.”

Daniel slows down on the chewing, and his eyes turn intense at once, when he squints, smile fading from his features. “Spiderman is… um, my favorite superhero, too.”

Seongwoo stops eating too.

What the fuck does that mean? Why did he have to make it weird?

“Oh wow, that’s so romantic, we have three things in common.” He takes all the jokbal out of Daniel’s plate while he’s distracted, which makes him laugh and try to stop Seongwoo’s chopsticks with his own.

 

...

They’re taking the last train to the neighborhood, and it’s full to the brim with people, and they’re forced to huddle up together more closely than Seongwoo would’ve liked.

They’re not exactly touching, but they’re definitely less than a reach away.

It’s not until the next stop is Seongwoo’s when he musters up the courage to ask; “Was this really a date?”

“Yeah.” Daniel answers simply, then expectedly stares at him.

Seongwoo stares back. “Are you - like - waiting for a goodnight kiss now?”

“Are you going to give me one?”

“No.”

He snorts. “That’s fine. Next time, then.”

His station is announced, and the train starts to halt.

“What makes you think there’s going to be a next time?”

He shrugs; “Because you had fun.”

“You had fun — I was just. Humoring you.”

He snorts; “I’m pretty sure _you_ had fun, too.”

The doors open.

“Okay, bye.”

“Goodnight.” Daniel returns.

Seongwoo walks out of the train with his eyebrows furrowed. what the fuck just happened?

 

...

 

Daniel wants to go out on Sunday too, but Seongwoo refuses and stares at his phone for five minutes, trying to settle the thoughts - well, rather than thoughts, it’s more like trying to settle a butterfly horade trying to claw its way out of his belly.

“Why not?” Is the last message Daniel wrote.

Because it’s fucking terrifying.

Are they kind of dating right now?

He _did_ have fun. And he _wants_ to go out again. Daniel is good company. Seongwoo kept forgetting that this was a (forced) date. It didn’t feel like it. It was just like going out with Jaehwan or Minhyun - except knowing that the person in front of you is actively interested in you made things different.

“You’ll have to work a bit harder than that, if you want us to actually date.” He writes back.

Daniel sends him a thinking emoji, and then; “Elaborate please.”

“Well,” Seongwoo starts; “For starters, you need to step up your flirting game. I don’t feel courted enough to go on a second date yet.” Nice, Seongwoo. Real smooth.

“I’ll give you some flowers in front of the entire student body tomorrow. How’s that?”

“Keep on threatening me and embarrassing me in public and you can continue seeing your other girlfriend.”

“What other girlfriend? There’s nobody.”

“Your right hand.”

“Ouch.” He sends a laughing emoji.

Seongwoo snorts and rolls on his belly before texting a right hand meme.

 

...

 

In the morning he knows something’s wrong, because everybody stare at him as he goes. Especially girls.

He assumes that it’s the Daniel thing persisting after the weekend, but then Jaehwan texts him; “Somebody took pics of your and Daniel in a restaurant together. Find cover until class. Mob of angry girls waiting for you. I will figure out how to monetize on it, first. Xoxo your only friend because Minhyun doesn’t count.”

Seongwoo sighs and looks around, but gets more curious looks back. At least it’s not loud silence.

Great. So much for blending in. Now that he’s on the spotlight, it’ll be harder to go back to the shadows.

He opens his locker. Letters flutter out to his feet. He reacts too late, and most of them fall to the floor.

The hallway is dead silent for a moment before bursting into chatter, talking about his letters. Seongwoo bends down to pick them all up hastily, until he notices among them a purple envelope Somebody drew yellow spider webs all over it.

“I can help you sort those out, I’m good with handwriting!” A girl comes up to him, and Seongwoo resumes picking them all off the floor.

“No, thanks.”

“That red letter is from Chanmi! She’s a freshman, A-2! Please give her a call, she liked you before too.” A younger girl tells him.

“Thanks, I’ll think about it.”

“Are you really dating Daniel?” Somebody else asks.

Seongwoo realizes they’re about to mob him and quickly escapes to the bathroom, holding a stack of messy envelopes between his arms. He closes the door behind him, just in case.

Jeez, he’s like an overnight celebrity or something. He used to get a letter per week, but this is insane.

He goes through them until he finds the purple one.

There’s no name on it or anything — but it’s unusual. The cobwebs are painted with a yellow pen.

He listens for a moment, if there’s anybody in the bathroom, before opening it.

_Dear Seongwoo,_

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue_

_You don’t wear any skimpy speedos_

_And your butt isn’t ridiculously big, too_

_But what can I say,_

_And what can I do,_

_This narcissistic schmuck_

_Wants a second date with you. :(_

_[recipient must treat this as a form of proper courting]_

He didn’t even sign it off with his name — but he didn’t have to.

Seongwoo knows exactly who wrote it, so he kinda gets why Daniel knew immediately where his own letter came from.  

Seongwoo nibbles at his lip.

God damn it, he’s an asshole, Seongwoo shouldn’t be thinking he’s cute. It’s not how it works!

 

...

 

On Wednesday, things simmer down a bit, and nobody’s following around, anymore.

It’s been kind of crazy the last few days, and he and Daniel had some undiscussed deal to keeping _it_ text-only. Whatever ‘it’ is.

Daniel waits for him at the school entrance. Seongwoo doesn’t notice him at first, until he bumps his shoulder into his and say; “Hey,”

It’s good that it’s pretty late, otherwise there would’ve been more people. Seongwoo looks around, a bit too conscious and careful that he should be.

“Let’s go grab lunch.”

“It’s 4pm.”

“It’ll be a late lunch.”

He looks excited again, the way he did back in their date last week, and Seongwoo finds that he can’t say no to that face. “Fine.” He says; “You remind me of the dog I had for 4 days when I was 7.”

“That’s not the compliment I wanted to hear,” He laughs, steering Seongwoo to the left; “But I’ll take it. Why four days?”

“Mom’s allergic. Couldn’t keep it. I thought she’d just agree once she’ll see him, but she got pretty severe itchy rashes, so we had to give it away.”

Daniel makes a face like he shares the sentiment, but doesn’t say anything. Seongwoo’s happy that he doesn’t - it was long ago, anyway.

“Don’t worry, you won’t get rid of me that easily.” Daniel says eventually.

“Gosh darn.” Seongwoo jokes. “Spoiled again.”

Their dinner is cut short, anyway. Daniel’s coach calls like 4 times, and Daniel braces himself after a taking long sip of the broth they were having, and answers it.

There’s a lot of yelling and he holds it away from his ear for a moment, to save his eardrum.

From what Seongwoo understand, Daniel missed practice to come have lunch with him, and now there was some assembly for the new swimming team recruits, and if Daniel didn’t show up, he’d be in trouble. Daniel opposes at first, says he can have one day off - but Seongwoo tells him he’ll wait until he’s finished, outside _if_ he wants.

They’re close to school, so it’s a short walk. Daniel tells him it’ll be 20 minutes, tops.

So Seongwoo nods, then nibbles at his lip after the door is closed.

What the fuck is he doing?

But he looked so relieved and encouraged that Seongwoo wasn’t ditching him. This was important to him — and going on a dumb lunch with Seongwoo seemed important, too.

He messes around with his phone, then decides to head back out and buy some drinks for the both of them.

He must have miscalculated the journey - or maybe loitered to overthink everything and obsessively worry about what he’s doing right or wrong, because when he returns, the lights at the pool house of their school campus are closed.

He checks his phone. Daniel didn’t write him anything, and when he comes closer, he still hears some voices inside, so he slips in.

“ — to think of your future.” He hears.

“With all due respect, sir.” Daniel says; “This isn’t the only thing I want for my future.”

“This is a crucial time for you. You need to focus. Regionals are next week, and you’re missing practice? Get your head back in the game, son. This isn’t the time for this. You’ll regret wasting this time on something fleeting that might not last the next year.”

“I’d rather take my chances.” Daniel says and Seongwoo nibbles at his lip.

The coach sighs. “Well, I can’t really stop you, can I? But if you’re going to miss practice like that, put more effort when you’re here. The team needs you and…”

Seongwoo slips back outside. This isn’t something he were supposed to hear - it’s also a bit terrifying how serious and gravid everything became all of the sudden.

Technically, he and Daniel aren’t even dating yet.

Placing somebody in his life - a boyfriend, nonetheless - would mean sharing their burdens and responsibilities. And Daniel comes with a lot of responsibilities, as the captain of the swimming team. If before it was just hanging out with Daniel and texting him until late, now he understands there’s much more to it than that. It also means thinking about his competitions, and about his duties with the team.

It would eat Seongwoo up if he had to see Daniel giving it all up for him, even more so if he would lose competitions because of him.

Daniel is taking something out when he notices him, and perks up instantly; “I thought you left!” He exclaims, jogging up to him, then clears his throat; “I - er — was about to leave with the guys, and noticed you weren’t here, so I thought you ditched me and stayed behind to help close up the pool house.”

“I went to buy some coffee, but you clearly don’t need any, considering how energetic you are.” Seongwoo pulls the coffee away, but Daniel takes it out of his hand and takes a quick sip. “You didn’t see nothing yet.” He jerks his eyebrows up suggestively at him, and Seongwoo pushes him and rolls his eyes.

“I still need to finish a few things inside.” Daniel gestures back at the door; “Wanna come with? The coach left.”

“Sure.” Seongwoo says, then realizes it puts them all alone in a closed up space. He swallows.

It’s still humid inside, but much less hot than what Seongwoo remembers it. There’s only dim lights from the bleachers and outside, so the pool sends ripples of lights across the room.

Seongwoo never visited it at night before.

It’s so quiet you can hear the crickets outside, and the water looks serene and undisturbed.

He helps Daniel drag a few things to the storage room, but then ends up strolling along the pool, as he locks up all the rooms.

He catches up to him when it’s done. “Pretty awesome, huh? I kinda like it in the dark too.”

Seongwoo hums and leans on the wall.

It’s quiet for a moment.

Too quiet.

Seongwoo nibbles at his lip, then he says; “So… the regionals, huh? That’s pretty big.”

“Not that big. We just have a bigger chance to reach nationals this year, with Jihoon and Woojin on the team.”

Seongwoo makes a face at the mention of name; “Right. The _other_ rude swimming star. I remember him.”

Daniel laughs. “He means well. He’s just bad with people — well, he’s good with people when he wants to be, but most of the time, he’s bad with people.”

“So he’s basically you but shorter and angrier.”

“I’m more sexy, too.” Daniel jerks his eyebrows at him and Seongwoo rolls his eyes back hard, which makes Daniel laughs. He looks down abruptly, though, his laughter dying out. “This isn’t… exactly how I wanted our second date to go. I’m sorry about making you wait and—”

“It’s fine.” Seongwoo pushes off the wall and continues walking along the poolside. “I guess it comes along with the package. The swimming team captain duties.”

“So - you want the _package_?” He’s unexpectedly directly behind him, even though Seongwoo didn’t hear him walk.

“It does include a ridiculously big butt. Which I lack.”

“I was joking - You should be proud of your butt. It’s small, but I feel like it has a lot of personality and spunk. That’s important, too.”

Seongwoo snorts and turns to him, just to see him raising his eyes back to him, meaning he was watching his butt. He pushes him. “Shut up.”

Daniel catches the hand that pushed him, and keeps it for a moment, raising his eyes to Seongwoo.

Seongwoo gulps; “Y-you can’t… just miss practice like that, though. It’s not okay. This should be a priority.”

“I don’t want it to be a priority over you —- and I don’t want to pick between you and swimming, either.”

“I get that, but I’m not…” _Going anywhere_ , he wants to say, but doesn’t have the guts to. This is much harder than he thought it will be.

“We’d barely have time together. You have cram school in the evenings, right?”

“Yeah.” Seongwoo nibbles at his lip. “We’ll figure something out. So — no more late lunch dates.”

“Why do you make the rules?”

“I’m the hyung. Remember? Also that coffee you just drank, that’s from my pocket money. You owe me.”

“If we’re dating, I can’t owe you stuff. That’s against basic dating rules.”

“There is no basic dating rules.”

“If there’s proper courting rules, there’s basic dating rules, too.”

Seongwoo snorts.

“I’ll strike you a deal.” Daniel says proudly, and Seongwoo can feel his thumb caressing the back of his hand, and it sends little jolts down his spine. “You help a bro out. Keep me satisfied, so to say. So I’ll be a good boy and go to all my practices.”

“A bro is about to meet my fist, if he runs ahead of himself.”

“Oh, come on.” Daniel laughs. “Just a kiss would do.”

Seongwoo considers it for a moment, then decides… yeah. Okay. He can do that.

He bites onto his lip. He haven’t actually kissed somebody before - unless it was a spin-the-bottle, or 7 minutes in heaven type of game, and mostly it was more awkward than anything else - but just this once, he actually wants it. To kiss somebody.

To kiss him like at the end of every romcom out there — kiss him _good_.

So he leans in.

“For now.” Daniel adds against his lips, and Seongwoo draws back instinctively to tell him off, but Daniel holds onto his cheek and brings their lips together.

It’s soft at first. Kind of innocent and not at all exciting, but as Seongwoo sighs into it, relaxed that it’s not as terrible as he expected it, Daniel deepens it.

His lips work fast and open up for him, and it gets a bit wetter.

Seongwoo trails his hands over his torso. Some parts of his uniform are still damp, because he hadn’t toweled them well after the pool. The heat of his mouth and tongue, the warmth of his arms around him and what a contract it is against how cold and wet his hair feels under his fingers - but Seongwoo loves the feeling of it, because that’s roughly how he imagined kissing Daniel would feel like.

Hot and cold, sloppy and wet and passionate.

 

...

 

Their next date is on Saturday.

Daniel’s tournament is on Tuesday and he kept bugging him that he needed to “Load up” before it, so he could have good scores.

They go to dick around in the arcade for a bit. Seongwoo was always pretty bad in these games, and he’s even worse at them with Daniel, so he feigns being upset until Daniel lets him win.

Then he struts around like a peacock and keeps reminding that he lost that one time — and that he can’t be dating a loser (even though he lost like the other 50 times). Daniel thinks it’s the most amusing thing since cats videos. And it also gets him all hot and bothered, because he keeps pulling him to corners to kiss him fervently.

They keep getting walked in on, or interrupted, so at some point, Seongwoo casually says; “Hey — um… my parents will be back later. Wanna come over?”

Daniel looks like a deer caught in the headlights; “Are you sure? Isn’t it a bit...”

“Sure of — No, not to… like that!” Seongwoo rubs his head, blushing. “What sort of a skank do you think I am?”

“The best kind.” Daniel says with a sigh, and Seongwoo pushes him.

“What I mean is, before you assumed wrongly, hang out there instead of here.” He rubs his head again in embarrassment. “Without any acts of defloration on your part.” Seongwoo presses on the elevator button.

“Wait — my part? Your part, you mean.”

“No, I mean your part. I think we got that established. Because I’m the hyung. I pay for stuff. I get to do the dickening.”

The elevator dings and opens and they enter inside, with another couple.

“I’m just saying. You don’t pay for enough stuff to get dickening privileges.”

Seongwoo elbows him in the gut, when he sees the other couple staring at him weirdly.

“So much for the romance part of the romcom.” Seongwoo tells him, and Daniel laughs. Maybe it’s a bit too premature to discuss.

“We can still do romcom stuff.” He insists and takes his hand. “Here.”

It’s a bit cold as they head down the street, but his hand in Daniel’s feels warm.  “If this was a real romcom, you’d give me your jacket.”

“I’m not freezing my balls for you, unless I’m getting dickening privileges.” Although he says that, he hugs him from the back with his jacket.

Seongwoo snorts.

 

...

 

It’s weird to have him in his room. He originally planned to make-out, and maybe talk a bit, but Daniel take the time to explore his room. Get through his action figures and mangas and books.

Seongwoo brings some snacks when he’s going through his desk.

“You’re still doing the letter thing?” He asks.

“Yeah. I can’t exactly stop. Jaehwan’s breathing down my neck. He’s… er… the organizer. I just write the letters.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” He nods, then glances at him hurriedly. “Not going to lie… it kinda bothers me you’re writing love letters to other people.”

Seongwoo snorts, and tugs him to turn around to him. “But I don’t like _them_. It’s like a part time job.”

“You kinda didn’t like me, either.”

“No, I kinda did. Until you turned out to be a douchebag.”

“You still don’t like me.” He scrunches his nose.

“I tolerate you.” Seongwoo agrees. “Very very much.” He leans in to give him a peck on the lips.

Daniel returns it, wrapping his hands around him, and Seongwoo sighs into the kiss. Finally, they're going to make out properly - but Daniel pulls away all of the sudden.

“What’s that?” He walks up behind him, toward the wall. There’s a few pictures there, mostly Minhyun and Jaehwan and Seongwoo, some with Jisung and Sungwoon, too. And a bit of Guanlin, the neighbor kid he used to babysit. 

But Daniel doesn’t point at the pictures, he points at the framed certificate. It also used to have a picture with it, but the color faded from it, and Seongwoo threw it away. He knows his mom has another one somewhere in her albums, and he was meaning to get it and put it up there with a certificate. Like... he was going to, but he never really got to that.

It’s a pretty big deal for him, even though it’s been a few years now. His mom signed him up for it in Junior high. He met a sick kid, and wrote a story about him being a superhero. The story got a lot of views and likes and the kid was able to get funds off of it. Seongwoo lost contact with him soon after, but Seongwoo still kept it there, on his wall.

Would Daniel think it’s lame if he told him about it? Boring? He still remembers with a cringe when he told his classmates about it. They thought it’s dumb and were disinterested when he was showing them around the room. The only one who thought it’s cool was Jaehwan, and only because he knew how to monetize from it.

“It’s just… something dumb.” Seongwoo downplays it. “I wrote a story for a kid, as a part of a program to make sick children smile. It got some… hype around him and his sickness, so he got funds for his surgery. So… yeah.”

“Dumb?” Daniel asks. “Doesn’t look dumb to me. You saved his life.”

His tone sounds kinda off, but he’s with his back to him, so Seongwoo isn’t sure why.

When he reaches out to him, he clears his throat.

“My mom called just like… a few minutes ago. When you were downstairs. I need to get home.”

He turns to him, but avoids his eyes.

“Why all of the sudden? It’s Saturday.”

“Just some family stuff.”

“Okay. Cool.”

“Okay.” He nods.

Seongwoo wonders what went wrong, all of the sudden, and texts him later if everything’s okay.

Daniel leaves him on _seen_.

 

.

 

He actually leaves him on ‘seen’ the entire day on Sunday too.

Seongwoo gets frustrated and calls him.

He’s actually more worried than he is pissed off. But even if something really bad happened, he could’ve written like a text.

Daniel doesn’t answer.

He’s friggin _ghosting_ him.

Seongwoo decides to just talk to him tomorrow morning, but just as he passes the corner, he sees Daniel at his locker, with an envelope in his hands.

He hesitating, making the passer-bys take out their phones to film him. When he finally realizes he's making a scenes, he shoves the letter inside and walks away.

What the fuck? Couldn’t he text him? Maybe his phone’s broken or something..

He wastes some time going into class, before going back to his locker and ducking into a bathroom just to tear it open and see what he wrote.

_I do like you. I want you to know that. But I don’t know if I like you because I’m obsessively holding onto the past or because I actually like the you I met now. I need some time to figure it out. Sorry._

Seongwoo reads it again. And again. What the fuck.

Did he just break up with him? Over a letter? What is this reasoning, even? He could’ve at least used the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’! Common courtesy!

He tears it up, then also crumples it and dumps it in the toilet.

Then he also flushes it.

Several times because a few persistent pieces keep floating up.

Whatever.

He wants to be done, Seongwoo’s _done_. He’s been done since yesterday. He’s been done since last fucking year. He’s the done-est.

They haven’t even been dating for a week, for fuck’s sake. He could’ve waited for the weekend, or something. Say it to his face. Fucking coward.

Lamest breakup in the history of all breakups ever.

Seongwoo flushes the toilet again, just in case. To make sure the letter reaches the sewers, where it belongs.

 

.

 

“Okay so the last one is pretty easy, it’s for Minah from your class so — why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

Seongwoo looks up and furrows his eyebrows. “I don’t look like I’m about to cry. I look fine. I am fine.”

“Okay that’s the dog in the burning room meme, what’s wrong?” Jaehwan sits next to him. “Don’t tell me… trouble in paradise with the swimming team captain?”

Seongwoo glares at him. “We kinda broke up.”

“Aw, that’s all?" Jaehwan waves his hands dismissively; "Me and Minhyun are breaking up every week.”

“That’s not true.” Minhyun says; “You’re just being dramatic and you love slamming doors and yelling ‘we’re breaking up’.”

“Yeah, so? Doesn’t take away from it being an actual breakup.”

“He sent me a letter, in which he broke up with me. He couldn’t even… I don’t know. Write me a text. Or tell it to my face. It makes me so mad. And he ghosted me the entire fucking weekend, beforehand. I still have no idea why.”

“What did you fight about?” Minhyun seems interested.

“We didn’t, that’s the thing.  We had a good date — then we head back to my place.”

“Already?!”

“Not to _do_ **that**! Just to hang out.”

“Right.” Jaehwan narrows his eyes at him knowingly. 

“Right.” Minhyun repeats after him. 

Seongwoo grunts. “I went down and brought some snacks, I go up we talk a bit and everything’s fine, and then he’s like 'okay no gotta run mom called'. oldest excuse on the book. Everything was fine until that point. We were about to make out... I just don't get it.”

Jaehwan exchanges looks with Minhyun. “That does sound odd. What did you talk about?”

“Just stuff? I don’t know. I ran it like a million times through my head, trying to figure out what I did wrong. We talked about — I don’t know. He said it upsets him that I’m still writing love letters to other people but he—”

“Well, there you have it.” Minhyun cuts him off. “He’s the extremely jealous type.”

“No - I don’t think this was it. He seemed okay. Then he saw my photo wall… and immediately after that he just left.”

Minhyun and Jaehwan both look at the photo wall, as if to see what can be wrong with it.

“You have to understand — he’s a douchebag, but this was too much of an extreme mood change, even for him. And the letter was fucking weird.”

“What did the letter say?” Jaehwan asks. “Can I see?”

“I flushed it down the drain. It just said that he’s not sure if he likes me for me or for past me. It just sounds like he found something deep on the internet and wrote that down and called it a day.”

“Hold on… did you know him before?”

“No.”

“Sounds like we’re missing something here,” Minhyun says; “You probably knew him somehow — but you forgot all about it. I know you from childhood. You have crap memory. Wouldn’t be the first time.” He picks his book up, like the case was solved.

“There, there, bud.” Jaehwan drapes a heavy hand on him. “We’re always here for you, even in times of peril. We can set his locker on fire.”

“No, let’s not.”

“Then, we can set his bag on fire. Set up a bunch of firecrackers in it, when he’s not looking.”

“ _No_.”

“We can start a fire in—”

“No, Jaehwan, no fires. Let’s just forget _he_ ever happened and go on with our lives.” Seongwoo adjusts his sitting position, and clutches back onto the pen. “So who's the next person?”

Minhyun and Jaehwan share a long look, but Minhyun shrugs, and Jaehwan sighs, and retrieves the list he printed out, so they could continue where they left off.

 

...

 

Jihoon is standing in his way, in the morning, and Seongwoo is in a bad mood.

When he tries to bypass him from the side, he blocks his way again.

“Are we really going to do this again?”

“Yes.” He says; “Whatever you did - undo it.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, you did. You _did_ , because Daniel’s been a moping mess. He made us do 30 laps yesterday. I had to carry Woojin home. And he’s walking around like a smelly sack of balls and farting out really bitter crap out of his mouth. So - undo it.”

“He broke up with me. Not the other way around. So I can’t exactly do anything.”

“No — but you did do something for him to break up with you, because he was acting like the sun shines out of your ass for weeks now. He even read your letter out loud in the locker room, like it’s some poetry, even though all you did is insult him.”

Seongwoo cringes. Of course, he did.

“He doesn’t want to talk with me.” He says simply, with an air of finality to it, and heads toward his locker. If he did, he’d at least text him. Instead he just ghosted him and wrote him a goddamn letter.

Jihoon follows him. “You can just… undo what you did. Just for like the next two days. Tomorrow is Regionals. Then you can break up with him again.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Sure, it does!” Jihoon says; “Don’t you want our school to win on the regionals?”  Seongwoo glares at him, and Jihoon lifts up his fist in an attempt to pump it; “Yay, school spirit.”

“Do I look like I give a damn about that?”

“You… might?” Jihoon squints. “If I pay you 100 bucks…?”

“He’s ghosting me when I text him, and he’s avoiding me in school - so I think it’d be easier if you get him to try and talk to me? Tell him that I’m telling everybody he’s emotionally unstable - which he is, by the way. And that he has a small dick. Improvise. I have trust in you.” Seongwoo pats his shoulder.

“If we lose the regionals, it’s on you.” Jihoon threatens. “And you don’t want me on your bad side.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Seongwoo slams his locker closed.

 

...

 

He doesn’t want to bother, but he can’t help it.

So Daniel breaks up with him, and still gets to act like a little bitch about it?

Not on his fucking watch.

And the thing is Seongwoo hates himself for caring so much. He hates that he can’t get him out of his head, even though you can hardly call what they had dating. They had like 3 dates. It’s pathetic.

He’s being pathetic, and miserable and he stares at his ceiling and eats caramel ice cream out of the box angrily.

He should at least have some closure. Yell and fight! Come up to Daniel and give him a long piece of his mind! Yeah! He gonna do just that. Push him and tell him he’s an asshole, even though he knows it.

He eats another spoonful. He can totally do that. You just watch, world. He’s definitely going to get back at him for this. Maybe not like today, even though he was planning for it since he met Jihoon - but, tomorrow.

Yes.

Tomorrow.

Jaehwan calls, so he puts him on speaker and puts the phone on his chest, so he can continue mopping while he’s talking.

“Whatcha up to?”

“I’m thinking about how I’m going to punch Daniel tomorrow.” He says with a full mouth. 

“Tomorrow is the regionals, though.”

“Yeah.”

“You really like this dude, huh?”

“Haven’t you been listening, I said I want —”

“Yeah, I heard you. But you haven’t been invested in anybody else like that for a really long time. Usually if people cross you, you just move on.”

“What do you want, Jaehwan? I’m very busy making up scenarios in my head.”

“I um— okay, I wanted to help a bro out.” That sounds like something Daniel says and it makes Seongwoo frown. “I found it weird that I never got any emails from the sender, even though their letter flopped. Like — the person who asked for Daniel’s letter. Even though they paid in full, on paypal, and everything. I tried emailing them, but never got a response. So I asked around, and you know what, there really isn’t a Euigeon in B-3 - So that got me thinking who and why—”

Seongwoo sits up. “What did you call the sender?”

“Euigeon. That’s how the sender signed off his gmail —”

“Euigeon? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Why?”

From his position at the bed, Seongwoo is looking straight at the certificate on the wall. There’s no way, right? Although Seongwoo technically only saw Euigeon thrice, he would’ve remembered his face, but now that he thinks about it - the general lines of it were familiar. The smile, though. The smile was the same - Seongwoo noticed it the first time he came to watch Daniel in the pool house. It looked familiar.

“I’ll call you back.” He hangs up before he hears Jaehwan reply, and runs downstairs to find his mom’s albums.

It’s on the second album, the green one.

Seongwoo’s sitting on a hospital bed beside a sickly kid, and they’re both making the peace sign with their hands. There’s a breathing tube in his nose. And he was always wearing a beanie - to make up for the balding spots. He was also much paler, with irritated reddish eyes, and chapped blueish lips. But he was an overall a cool dude. Seongwoo thought he’s much younger than him at first, but he turned out he was about his age. His mom was a single mom, and she worked two jobs to pay for his hospital bills, so she was barely in the hospital. He was so lonely. Seongwoo could tell. And sometimes just thinking about him would make him sad. It still did. Seongwoo kept thinking if they weren’t that far away, they’d be good friends, for sure.

Seongwoo thought his story is cheesy, and wanted to write something else, but Euigeon seemed to like it so much, that Seongwoo just left it as it. It was kind of spider-man inspired. They both liked spiderman. They even watched spiderman 2 on his mom’s lanky huge laptop the second time Seongwoo came to visit him in the hospital in Busan. There’s a picture of that too. There’s also a picture of the two of them laughing.

And the smile — the smile is definitely the same.

Euigeon isn’t no longer small or thin — Daniel is bigger than him in frame, he got those broad swimmer athlete shoulders, and long body build, even though he’s roughly around Seongwoo’s height. Then the scar on his chest…

Seongwoo puts his own hand on his chest, where it’s located on Daniel’s.

It must be from the surgery.

How could he have missed it?

Now the letter makes more sense. It makes him upset that Daniel never told him who he is. And at the same time guilty and sorry for calling it dumb, and downplaying the certificate. Did he get insulted? 

He nibbles at his lip.

 

.

  


“Why did you change your name?”

The locker room is empty. Most of the team is outside, cheering for their teammates, or finishing up in the water. It’s almost time for Daniel’s relay, so he went to change.

Seongwoo wanted to talk to him earlier, but there wasn’t a chance to do so. The swimming team was absent since it was the morning of regionals, and by the time he got here after school, Daniel was constantly surrounded by people or discussing things with teammates.

His eyebrows were constantly furrowed, and he looked far more serious than Seongwoo saw him before. 

So the moment he slipped away from the crowd, Seongwoo followed.

Daniel turns around abruptly. “You’re not allowed in here.”

“The coach let me in, I have a rare allergy.”

Daniel adjusts his jaw, not yet angry, but not happy about it either, then finally after a moment of silence, he says; “The school counselor at the new school in Seoul thought it’s for the best. So I don’t get bullied. Because I was frail. He also suggested I should start doing some sport, to ease the transition. Like, swimming.”

“And you took it too seriously.”

“I take everything too seriously.”

Daniel sits down on the bench, and takes off his shirt, adamant about continuing with his routine.

Seongwoo gulps.

“I - um… I’m sorry for calling it dumb. I just called it dumb because I thought — I thought _you’d_ think it’s dumb.  My classmates think it’s lame and nerdy — but I’m really proud of that moment in my life. That’s why I keep it on my wall.”

He stops fiddling with his sweatshirt, so Seongwoo takes a step closer. “When they told me the story got the funds necessary for the surgery you needed, I couldn’t sleep for a week, because I was waiting to see you. I wasted all my pocket money to buy you a spider figurine. I was so hyped.” He throws it at Daniel’s lap, and he catches it, and stares at it.

“My mom bought tickets to busan, and from there we took a taxi to the hospital, I remember sitting in the car vibrating from excitement. But - ugh… you got transferred. And they couldn’t give us any further information because we weren’t relatives. Even my mom got upset at the nurse.”

Daniel looks up to his face.

“Yeah - ugh… immediately after the funds came in, they flew me to seoul to perform the surgery. After that my mom was scared of coming back to Busan, in case something happens, so… we stayed here. She found a new job, and it payed well, too.” He stands up. 

“That’s great.” Seongwoo nibbles at his lips. “I can’t believe you’re…” _Healthy, normal, alive_ \- Seongwoo isn’t sure how to finish that sentence. “I can’t believe it’s _you_.” He reaches out, just to study his features. He looks so different, that he can’t connect the dots.

Daniel leans his cheek into his touch and closes his eyes for a moment.

“I’m not offended. About you calling it dumb. That’s not why — the truth is… I was so caught up with getting you to remember me that I realized that _I_ don’t remember you. I’m the one who sent you the request for the letter. Jisung wanted me to just come up to you and talk to you, but I could never muster the courage… because you were so… you grew up so…” He doesn’t know how to finish. “It’s like you were already perfect in my head - you saved my life, and wrote a story about me, for a kid that never left the hospital, it was pretty much everything - but when I saw you at school, anew, I could comprehend it at first - but the more I looked at you, I realized you somehow became even more perfect than before. The image of you. I was crushing, hard." 

Seongwoo bites the inside of his cheek.

“I thought once you’ll see my old name with the association of my face, you’ll recognize me and approach me. I admit that’s… cowardly."

“Also breaking up with me over a letter is cowardly.”

“I know! And when you called Jisung that day to ask about me - I was with him, and suddenly I really didn't want you to remember the sick kid that had bald spots. That’s why I’m so… confused? That’s why I said I needed some space to think? At first it was easy to associate the old you and the you right now. you kept just sitting there, but then we talked, I realized you don’t remember me at all, I felt kind of annoyed but you were so — _fiesty_.”

“ _Never_ use that word again.”

Daniel snorts.

“I decided to use it to my advantage, and get to know you better, but it backfired, because I _wanted_ you. I wanted to be with you. More than I wanted anything else. And I still do — I just… when you talked about it, I realized how unfair it is. I forced the image of the old you on you, by myself - but you weren’t _that_ Seongwoo anymore. I mean, you are, it’s just that I was trying relive the past and get back the time that we missed, and you might not even remember me or care about it.”

“Please tell me that’s not why you broke up with me, because that’s the fucking stupidest, most complicated bullshit I have ever heard.”

“I didn’t want to be together with you because of what happened before." Daniel concludes. "Because you're you." 

“Did it actually occurred to you to tell me that you’re the kid from the certificate and avoid all this fucking confusion, and sending me cryptic letters?”

“I was going to tell you eventually, when I figure myself out.” He looks down like a scolded puppy. "It was really hard to act cold toward you." 

"Who says I would've taken you back? Huh?" Seongwoo hits him up the head and takes a long deep inhale. “It’s super cool that we found each other again and… I still can’t believe it. You’re not exactly the same Daniel from back, then, too.”

“I kinda am though, I feel like—”

“Well, I kinda feel like I’m the same Seongwoo.” He cuts him off. “It’s been 5 friggin years since then. A lot of shit changed. Did you liked me back then when we were kids? Like that I mean?"

"Well, no, I just wanted to be friends and--"

"Then why is this an issue? You like the me right now. Not because of what happened 5 years ago - that’d be stupid, because you barely knew me back then. We met three times. I didn’t want to date you, then. Just to be friends. But I do want to now. It doesn't have to be that complicated." 

Daniel eyebrows do the thing where he looks like a kicked puppy again. “I kinda want to date you, too. I just don’t want to blew it,  and I don’t want to hurt you—”

“So you’re hurting me by breaking up with me? Where’s the logic in that? I’m already hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” He cups Seongwoo’s face.

“You’re not going to blew it. I’m not going to let you. It takes two to tango, right? If somebody’s going to break up with somebody else, it’s going to be me breaking up with you. Because you’re a loser.”

“Thanks.” Daniel’s lips turn up a little at the corner;  “That’s what I needed to hear before my big tournament.”

“I'm starting to think you get turned on by insults."

“Not insults. Feistiness.”

Seongwoo pinches him, and he laughs.  Seongwoo kisses him, first, this time - runs his hands on his torso until he meets the scar in the middle of his chest. He traces his finger on it, breaking the kiss.

“And is it — is it really okay to compete now with it? Doesn't it make a strain on your lungs?" 

“Yeah, it is. It’s all healed up. My lungs are fully functioning. I had to endure some stamina training and physiotherapy, but it worked in my favor. It’s like I was never sick.”

Seongwoo nods.

Daniel inhales his hair.

The coach opens the door; “Kang, you’re in 5—!”

Seongwoo would’ve jumped away, but Daniel didn’t, so he doesn’t either.

“I see your rashes also needed human spit to settle down.” He says, but doesn’t look too surprised. “Kang, you’re in the water in 5. Get out of your clothes already. _Rashes_ , get the hell outta here.”

Seongwoo nods, and almost takes his leave, before looking back to Daniel and clearing his throat. “You have to win. I’m not dating a loser.”

He snorts; “Yeah, you are.”

Daniel gets first place.

But whenever the coach sees him next, he calls him _Rashes,_ which makes the entire swimming team call him _Rashes_ , and consequently, the entire school for the rest of the year. Trends suck. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope it's good!


End file.
